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Religion and Development

Course content

This course will look into the relationship between religion and
development and analyse the question of what role religion plays in
development at the practical, ideological and religious levels. The
course offers a critical reading of the current ways in which
religion has been linked to development by way of broadening the
focus to include also belief, religious ideas and experiences. We
will discuss changing trends in how religion has been approached in
development policy and practice. We examine the role of religion in
development, both as an enabling factor, but also in conflicts and
radicalisation. We will read the more
'focused' literature on the role of religion in
development, but will also widen the perspective to look at
religion in contexts of conflict, displacement, as well as in
relation to forms of mutual assistance that lie outside the
institutional boundaries of NGOs and faith-based organisations. The
course will also pay some attention to how religious ideas and
experiences shape social practices, social relationships and how
people perceive development and their engagement with development
organisations. The main focus is on Christianity and Islam, but
other religious traditions will also be discussed in particular as
part of understanding how the encounters between different
religious ideas and practices interact with ideas and practices of
development. The empirical focus of the course is on Africa, but we
will also draw on examples from other contexts. We will invite a
number of guest speakers from organisations working in the field of
religion and development.

The course is organised in sessions of 3 hours over the
semester’s 14 weeks. The teaching approach of the course consist of
a combination of seminar series combined with class discussions and
other activities. The course also draws on cases from organisations
working within the field.